Drax Gets €300 Million of EU Cash for Carbon Capture Project

Capture Power, the developer of the White Rose Carbon Capture and Storage Project, has welcomed today's announcement of a funding award decision of up to €300 million under the European NER300 programme.

Located on land adjacent to the existing Drax Power Station, near Selby in North Yorkshire, the 426MW new build power plant will burn coal with the potential to co-fire sustainable biomass and meet the equivalent power needs of over 630,000 homes. Fully equipped with CCS technology from the outset, 90% of all the CO2 produced by the plant will be captured and transported by pipeline for permanent off-shore storage deep beneath the North Sea seabed.

On behalf of Capture Power, CEO Leigh Hackett said: “We’re delighted that the European Commission has made this important NER300 award decision in favour of the White Rose Project. In December 2013, we entered into the FEED contract for the Project as a preferred bidder in the UK CCS Commercialisation Programme. The NER300 award represents another significant milestone for us in our development programme and an important potential source of funding for the Project, as well as providing a strong signal for CCS in Europe.

“We are well on track to demonstrate the key role that CCS can play in the future UK energy mix. CCS is an important technology providing clean, reliable and cost competitive electricity with the potential to contribute greatly to the decarbonisation of global power markets.”

Peter Boreham, director of business development at National Grid said: “It is great news for the project to be selected for the NER300 award. It shows continued commitment to CCS in the UK and Europe and is the next step towards a CCS network in the Yorkshire and Humber region, in which we can provide the infrastructure and storage solution.”

White Rose is scheduled to form the anchor project for the development of National Grid’s Yorkshire and Humber CO2 transport and storage infrastructure with the potential to enable attractive carbon capture and storage solutions for a variety of energy intensive industries. The transport infrastructure will have a capacity up to 17 million tonnes of CO2 per year through which White Rose will transport around 2 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Such an infrastructure will help to secure the long-term industrial future of the region which emits 60 million tonnes of CO2 per year, equivalent to 19% of all UK emissions.

Capture Power is a joint venture set up by Alstom, Drax and BOC to develop White Rose in close co-operation with National Grid, who will provide the CO2 transportation and storage infrastructure. White Rose is also a participant in the UK CCS Commercialisation Programme.